“Look out!” The unicorn guard calls out as he slides across the floor, his hooves trying to find purchase on the polished marble.
It runs with the scepter in its mouth, using its wings to help corner on the slick floor.
A large gray unicorn teleports to the far end of the hall, “Drop the scepter and you won’t be hurt.”
“I’ve got it!” A pegasus calls as he dives towards it, folding his wings against his body, he holds his forehooves out.
It is too fast, its small size lets it weave around quicker than the pegasus expected. In a flash, it is through another doorway. It looks for a way to escape, a way to hide.
“ENOUGH!” Celestia says, “This is disrespectful. Drop it now!”
Luna blinks, “Sister no!”
Lighting her horn, Princess Celestia sends her magic towards it, towards the scepter. The Scepter is old though, extremely ancient. Her magic interacts with the sceptre’s. In a moment, there is a flash, sending both the scepter and its little bearer in one direction, and Celestia in the other. The flash is blinding, causing Celestia to shake her head, smoke rising from her horn.
Luna had shielded herself with her wing, lowering it slowly, she looks at Celestia, then at the mirror portal, “Oh sister…” she moans.
Equestria Girls: Equestrian Creatures and Where to Find Them.
Apple Bloom lies on her back on the grass, looking up at the clouds, a bottle of apple juice in her hand as she sighs, “We could try cooking again.”
“Can’t.” Sweetie Belle moans, “Mom said if she catches me in a kitchen again I’m grounded till my twenty-first birthday.”
“Ouch? Was it really that bad?” Apple Bloom asks as she turns her head.
“I didn’t think so, but the firemen had other things to say. We still haven’t heard back from the insurance company. How was I supposed to know that the oil would do that?” Sweetie Belle moans.
Skidding to a stop Scootaloo hops off her scooter board and sits down, cross-legged. “So, what’s up for today?”
Turning to look at Scootaloo, Apple Bloom smiles, “Finally, were still trying to figure out what to do today for our mark.”
“I know, how about white water rafting?” Scootaloo says.
“I can’t swim.” Sweetie Belle says softly, “Knitting?”
“Boring.” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo say in stereo.
“There’s just gotta be something.” Apple Bloom growls.
Scootaloo props up her chin with her hand, “Maybe we’re just not meant to.”
“That’s quitter talk, and the crusaders NEVER quit.” Apple Bloom says firmly, “We’ll find a way to make our mark on the internet somehow.”
Sweetie Belle smiles, “There’s just so much to try yet, eventually we’ll find something we are really good at that will rack up the followers on the internet.”
Standing up, Apple Bloom holds out one hand in front of her, striking a pose, with her other hand on
Scootaloo stands up, forming a triangle with the three of them, each adding their hand in, “Crusaders!”
“We’ll make our mark,” Sweetie Belle starts in a singing voice, “and the internet will see.”
“We’ll make our mark,” Scootaloo joins in, “Just you and you and me.”
The explosion from the gate is massive. The light is blinding, and the sound is so loud it sets car alarms off and shakes windows all over the school. Starting a song in front of the magical portal isn’t a bad thing normally. In this case, though, the girls are thrown to the ground by not just energy, but by the impact of the creature.
The collision sends the scepter flying and bouncing off the ground, before clattering to a stop near the street.
It takes a moment for the girls to get their wits about them, but it’s already on the move. The creature grabs the scepter and takes flight with it.
“What hit me?” Sweetie Belle whimpers.
Scootaloo sits up and groans, “Something that came through the gate.” She stops, her eyes widening, “Wait, it came through the gate, that means it was from Equestria?”
“Scoot! You’ve got wings?” Sweetie Belle says in shock.
Looking over her shoulders, Scootaloo walks in circles a few times, trying to see her back better as she spreads her wings. Stopping, she looks over at Sweetie, “Aw Yeah! We’ve ponied up!”
Sweetie Belle puts her hands to her ears, wiggling them. “I’ve got ears!”
“I…I can’t feel my hands, or my feet.” Apple Bloom whimpers, “I think I’m going to be sick.”
Looking over, Scootaloo blinks, “Apple Bloom…”
Sweetie Belle blinks, “Oh my gosh!”
Weakly, Apple Bloom tries to lift her head, the pink bow tied to the back of her mane blowing in the wind.
Sweetie Belle runs up and drops to her knees beside her friend, her hands trembling as she looks down. “Apple Bloom… you’re… you’re….”
Apple Bloom’s head wobbles a bit as she tries to focus on Sweetie Belle.
“Aww come on, this sucks.” Scootaloo says, jumping on the spot and flapping her wings as hard and fast as she can. “Dash makes it look so easy…. How come I can’t fly?”
“This isn’t about you Scootaloo, look at Apple Bloom.” Sweetie Belle snaps.
Looking over, Scootaloo lets out a soft, “Dawwww.”
“Isn’t she adorable as a filly?” Sweetie Belle says, “The ribbon, the tail, oh, I really love her mane!” She squeaks.
Shaking her head vigorously, Apple Bloom looks down at herself, “What? Why?”
“I don’t know, but you look so cute and cuddly!” Sweetie Belle says, grabbing Apple Bloom and hugging her tightly.
“Ah am not!” Apple Bloom says defiantly, as she flattens her ears and puffs out her cheeks with a grumble.
“Nope, she’s right, you are totally cute.” Scootaloo says.
As Sweetie Belle hugs Apple Bloom tighter, pulling her up. The filly changes back to human form, well nearly human, she keeps her pony ears and tail.
“Hey hey, nuf of that.” Apple Bloom says and pushes Sweetie Belle away gently. Then she blinks, looking at her hands. “Hey, I’ve got fingers again!”
“Hey what’s this?” Scootaloo says and kneels beside the other two girls, looking at a green crystal that Apple Bloom had been lying on. The crystal, or gem, is about the size of a golf ball and multi facetted cut into a teardrop shape. It is larger than any gem, by far, that Scootaloo had ever seen.
Rubbing her side, Apple Bloom looks down, “So, that’s what I was layin’ on, ah figured it was just pain from being blown up. I ain’t never seen a crystal that big.”
“Maybe that creature dropped it.” Scootaloo says and gently picks it up.
The moment Scootaloo touches the crystal, her form changes, her clothing vanishes as she instantly becomes a little pegasus filly. Wobbling a bit, she sits down quickly, rocking side to side. “Head rush. Everything just started looking funny, and I can’t focus on things.”
“I know right?” Apple Bloom says, “It’s like everything’s not where it should be. And who’s the cute one now.”
Looking at her sides and wings Scootaloo growls, “Ah heck no.”
“Oh, oh, oh, Let me try!” Sweetie Belle shouts and grabs the stone from Scootaloo’s hoof.
In an instant, the two switch forms, Sweetie Belle as the filly, Scootaloo as the pony upped human. Wobbling, Sweetie Belle giggles and shakes her head, “How do I look?”
“Just too cute for words.” Scootaloo says, “Almost as cute as Apple Bloom.”
Apple Bloom puffs out her cheeks, narrowing her eyes before blinking, “How are we supposed to carry this if it turns us into ponies, we can’t just leave it sitting here.”
Sweetie Belle rocks side to side, giggling and starts singing softly, “Oh I’m a little pony, short and stout, this is my tail and this is my snout.”
“I know!” Scootaloo gets up and dashes over to a tree, she breaks off a straight branch, and runs back over into the school, as she gets into one of the classrooms, she finds a big roll of duct tape. She looks over her shoulders and she notices her wings are gone, “Well that didn’t last,” she says softly.
Running back out the door, she skids to a stop and checked her back, her wings extend out, and she can feel them. “There’s a range on the change. If you’re about thirty feet from here, you change back.”
“Whatcha got there?” Apple Bloom asks.
Scootaloo wraps some duct tape around the end of the stick, then she lays a strip of tape down on the ground. “Okay, Sweetie Belle, put the crystal partly on the tape.”
“Awww, do I have to?” Sweetie Belle whines and drooped her ears.
“Come on, you can’t walk around as a little unicorn. With our luck, we’d end up in the pound.” Apple Bloom says, “Crusader Kennel Buddies doesn’t sound good to me.”
As she puts the gem down and moves her hoof away, Sweetie Belle turns back to her pony upped state. She watches closely as Scootaloo proceeds to roll the stick and gem together in the duct tape and smiles.
“Okay, as long as we don’t touch it directly, it seems we can move it around.” Scootaloo says and lifts the stick with the gem on the end.
“So now what?” Apple Bloom asks as she looks at the girls. “We can’t just sit here ponied up all day.”
“We need to tell the others, we need to tell Sunset about this, and that something came through the gate!” Sweetie Belle squeaks.
“Oh right? And what are they going to do? Hop a plane and fly back from England? They are at that challenge, they won’t be able to come back for at least two more weeks.” Scootaloo says with a huff.
“Oh right. Well how about our parents? We could ask them for help.” Sweetie Belle says, “My mom said if I ever had a problem, come tell her, no matter what it is.”
“Have you or Rarity told her about ponying up yet? About Equestria?” Apple Bloom asks, raising an eyebrow.
“Well, no… not really. I tried to, but they said it was a nice story, then Rarity said it would be improper to talk about such things.” Sweetie Belle says with a sigh as she lowers her head.
“Then it’s settled.” Apple Bloom says, “Until the girls get back, this is our problem. We’ll have to find the creature and get it back to Equestria!” Her eyes widen as what she just said hits her, she looks down, “somehow.”
“Yep.” Scootaloo says with her arms crossed, giving a slight nod before shaking her head. “Wait what? Us?”
“Well who else is there? Snips and Snails?” Apple Bloom says, “We are the crusaders, its our duty! Crusader Equestria Creature Wranglers!”
Scootaloo nods, “Crusader Equestria Creature Wranglers!”
“I don’t know about this.” Sweetie Belle says softly.
“Ok, well, where do we start?” Apple Bloom asked and hums as she taps on her chin.
“Well the creature flew off that way.” Scootaloo says, pointing towards the big city. “I think. So maybe there’s something on the news about it.”
“Sweetie Belle.” Apple Bloom says with a sigh, covering her face with a hand.
Sweetie Belle looks up with one hoof on the gem, wiggling her tail, “What? I think this is GREAT!” she squeaks as sparks pop from her horn for a moment.
“Its not a toy, and it could be dangerous.” Apple Bloom says, “Your house is closest, so we’ll go there.”
“Oh great, it could be dangerous so let’s take it to my house.” Sweetie Belle huffs and watches as the other girls start running. Getting up, she starts running too, “Hey wait for me!”
The streets are pretty clear of traffic and pedestrians, so the girls are able to make it to Sweetie Belle’s house without any trouble. An actual rare situation for the Crusaders. The Crumbles house is a fairly typical two story suburban home, complete with a two car garage, large basement, and open plan ground floor. Running inside, the girls charge into Sweetie Belle’s room.
“What if mom and dad were here?” Bell says panting a bit, then she blinks, looking at the other two. “Oh, come on! How come you girls aren’t even the slightest bit winded.”
“Cuz we’re in better shape?” Scootaloo says with a smirk.
“Says the pegasus that can’t fly.” Sweetie Belle grumbles and sits down on her bed to turn on her radio.
“Yeh, what’s with that?” Apple Bloom asks, sitting in front of Sweetie Belle’s laptop and starting to search the internet.
“No idea, Dash and Fluttershy make it look so easy, but their wings are huge compared to mine. Maybe its cuz I’m a not as old as them.” Scootaloo says, giving her wings a buzz. The force of the blast sending her chair rolling across the room.
Sweetie Belle puts on her head set, listening to her radio and kicking her feet, “Oh, I love this song.”
Apple Bloom blinks and snaps her fingers a few times, “Focus Belle. We need the news.”
“I know. I know.” Sweetie Belle says and switches stations.
Scootaloo can’t help but laugh as she zips around the room on the chair with her wings buzzing. The wheels rumble as they move across the wood floor, followed by her thumping into a wall, and spinning to start zipping across the room again. “This is silly, I can zip around like this, but I can’t fly. I gotta ask Dash how she does it.”
“I’ve got nothing? Anything on the radio?” Apple Bloom asks, looking over at Sweetie Belle with a sigh.
Sweetie Belle is laying with one hoof on the stone, her headphones against the back of her mane as she listens, looking up, she wiggles her tail again, “Nope nothing about monsters or such, all that’s on the news right now is something going on at a building in the downtown area. Something about possible terrorist attack, chemical weapons causing hallucinations, and the police blockading the area. Thank gosh we don’t have to go there. Someone is holed up on the top floor.”
Apple Bloom looked at Scootaloo and blinks slowly, “Hallucinations?”
“If I didn’t know about ponying up, that would be my guess.” Scootaloo says, “And if it was a flyer, it might feel safest getting as high up as it can.”
“Now we just need a way to hide our ears.” Apple Bloom says.
Sweetie Belle squeaks and bounces up, changing forms again as she runs for the door, “Oh, oh, oh, I know! My sister has just the things!” Charging into her sister’s room she searches, then she comes back right away, dropping her prize on her bed.
“Hair bands, well, Rarity insists on calling them Alice Bands,” Sweetie Belle says, sitting upright and wiggling a bit to impersonate her sister, “As they are not some uncouth fabric one wears while playing sports.”
“How are these supposed to help?” Scootaloo asks as she pokes one with a finger.
Giggling Sweetie Belle pulls one on, angling it and she smiles as she moves the band against her ears. “There just like the Wondercolt ears. The colors match our ears, but stand out against our hair, so people will think we’re just wearing fake ears!”
“Now we need to get to town, we can’t just call a cab or take a bus.” Apple Bloom says and huffs.
Scootaloo looks at the gem, “Even if we are disguised, if we are to close to others they will change too.”
“Well, dad does have that old car he doesn’t use. But I can’t drive.” Sweetie Belle says sorrowfully.
“I can!” Apple Bloom says quickly, “I drive the tractor and the hauler we have at the farm all the time.”
Scootaloo laughs, “Got you beat. I drive the gas powered go carts all the time, 79cc, four speed automatics. Those things rip up the dirt tracks.”
Apple Bloom hums, then she holds out her hand, making a fist, “Hoof, horn, wing to see who drives.”
Nodding, Scootaloo makes a fist, “Lets do this, one, two, three, shoot!”
Both girls quickly throw out the signs with their hands on the word shoot and look down.
“Wing covers hoof, I win.” Scootaloo crows.
Huffing, Apple Bloom picks up the stick with the gem on the end and walks down to the garage. The car is under a large cover so it takes a bit of time to get it into the light, but once done, the girls all blink.
“Wow, that really does look old.” Scootaloo says.
Painted eggshell white, with three blue diamonds behind the engine vents on the sides of the hood, the Morgan Roadster almost glitters. With chrome spoked wheels, chrome headlight casings, all wood dash board and leather interior, the car is absolutely beautiful.
“Your dad’s giving that to Rarity for her birthday?” Apple Bloom says in awe, “Wish I could get something like this.”
Scootaloo opens the driver’s door and looks inside before closing it and walking around to the passenger side with a sigh.
“Something wrong?” Sweetie Belle asks as she climbs into the back seat.
“Apple Bloom, your driving. It’s a standard, I can’t do standard.” Scootaloo says and climbs in.
“Ah KNEW all that time with the tractors would help somehow.” Apple Bloom says, smiling and hands Scootaloo the stick. Getting in, she fastens her seat belt and starts the car.
Opening the garage door with the remote, Apple Bloom carefully moves it out of its shelter. Once outside, she smiles and turns out onto the street, heading for town. Leaning down, Scootaloo turns on the radio, searching for local news.
“Don’t forget your turn signals,” Scootaloo says as she nods and leans back.
“Ah knew I was forgetting something, oh and headlights.” Apple Bloom says as she flicks them on too.
“A ten block region of the down town core is being evacuated, residents are being asked to leave their homes and places of work in an orderly fashion…” Comes over the radio.
“Does anyone ever listen to that? Sweetie Belle asked, “I mean really? A seven foot tall fire haired she demon shows up and everyone screams and runs. There was no order there.”
There was limited traffic flow towards the town center, the majority of it is heading away. People fleeing, looking for a safe place. A few news trucks, ambulances, and police pass them as they head down town, but aside from that, no one seemed to want to brave the supposed terrorist attack.
“This is easier than I thought.” Apple Bloom says, smiling, “We should be there in no time.”
“Yeah, seriously, why would people run towards the bad stuff?” Scootaloo says and chuckles as she leans forward, looking up at the building. Dark storm clouds had formed around it and began to circle slowly.
“Especially when there are big road blocks in place, and police to prevent entry.” Apple Bloom says as she stops the car, looking at the police check point.
“Do you know how to park?” Sweetie Belle asks.
“Normally I’d say no, but around here.” With most of the cars gone it was easy for Apple Bloom to simply pull off to the side of the road. They could see the building clearly from where they were, only a few city blocks from it.
“Now what?” Scootaloo asks, looking at all the police, “There’s no way we can get past all of that.”
“She’s right, we should probably just head home.” Sweetie Belle says, “It can probably wait till our sisters are back.”
Crossing her arms, Apple Bloom sighs and lays her head on the steering wheel, “There’s just got to be a way past everyone and in there, they can’t deal with something from Equestria. They don’t know what it is, or about magic.”
“And we do?” Sweet Belle squeaks, “Its not like we have some magical ability that will let us get in.”
Four massive lightning bolts streak down from the clouds. They run parallel to the building, arcing and fanning out as they get close to the ground. On impact, there is a bright flash of light and energy explodes outwards, washing across everyone and everything.
As the wave passes over people, they fall to the ground, unconscious. Lights go out on the police cars, and sirens go quiet. Huddling together, the girls watch as the pulse wave approaches the car before hitting the area of Equestrian magic that the stone is generating. The two magical fields dance and glow in a rainbow of colors and the pulse wave passes over them and continues outwards.
“What… What was that?” Sweetie Belle asks.
Getting out of the car, Scootaloo runs over to one of the officers and checks. “He’s still breathing, just unconscious.”
Looking at each other, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle both turn their heads to look at the gem.
“It must have been a magical pulse of some kind. We know one thing though, the gem will protect us from it. So we can get close to the creature safely then.” Apple Bloom says firmly.
Getting back into the car, Scootaloo looks at the girls, “That stun blast looks like it knocked out at least a quarter mile or more. I don’t know how long they will be out for. It looked like a wraith stun bomb.”
“A what?” Sweetie Belle squeaks in fear.
“Never mind, just a sci-fi thing.” Scootaloo says and leans back as Apple Bloom starts the car again.
Driving around the road block, she parked the car across the street from the building. It is a lot trickier than she had thought, because she had to avoid several bodies on the ground. Police, FBI, Swat, and even news crews are all laying on the ground.
Exiting the car, they looked up at the huge tower. Apple Bloom takes the lead as the group walks inside into the ground floor of the tower. Their eyes wide with awe. The power is off, except for some of the emergency lighting that casts the entire building in a strange glow. Several large stores make up the first few floors of the building, ranging from fashion and clothing, to electronics, and even a Toys'R'Us. Cellphone kiosks dot the walkways, though all have been left empty. Shattered glass from a DeBears store litters the entry way with the occasional gusts of wind from outside causing its door to swing.
“Well at least they have elevators.” Sweetie Belle says cheerfully.
Apple Bloom shakes her head, “Nope, powers out, we need to walk.”
“Walk? Do you know how many stairs there must be!” Sweetie Belle says looking shocked at the emergency stair well.
Leaning against a display pedestal, Scootaloo runs her finger along it, reading, “Nine hundred and seventy-two.”
“Oh, you can just keep information like that to yourself.” Apple Bloom says, shaking her head. “Let’s get walking.”
It is slow going, Sweetie Belle having to stop a few times on the way up to catch her breath. As they get higher though, the crystal glows brighter. It’s the only sign the girls have, so far, that they are going in the right direction.
As they are climbing a loud crash sounds above them an the entire building shakes. The girls look at each other, Sweetie Belle is the first to recover, “What was that?”
Apple Bloom looks down the stair well, then up, looking at the cloud of dust above them, “Ah dunno, but something happened.”
Scootaloo puts a hand on Sweetie Belle’s shoulder, “We are almost there, let’s go.”
Finally, as they get to the top, “I hate you two.” Sweetie Belle whimpers and puffs, her face showing her exhaustion.
“Why us?” Apple Bloom says as she sits down on the top step, looking down. “And keep your voice down a bit.”
“Pegasi and earth ponies are athletes, unicorns aren’t. You two are getting all these benefits, making it look so easy, and me, I’m exhausted.”
“Well, unicorns get like, magic, don’t they?” Scootaloo says and leans casually against the top banister.
Sweetie Belle lifts her bangs, “No horn, remember? Pony upped unicorns don’t get horns. Means I can’t do magic. Not like I’d know how if I had one.”
Apple Bloom nods and holds out her hand, helping Sweetie Belle up the last few steps, “Yeah, not like there’s a school that teaches magic, I mean real magic, not that Mind Freak stuff.”
Opening the door slowly, the girls peek out of the stairwell. The top floor of the building is dedicated to a massive skyline restaurant, with a central area for dancing and a live band. The tables are arranged around the outer sides though, with many having clear views of the windows.
Several of the floor to ceiling window panes had been smashed, some from the outside, some from within. Others showed large scratch marks in them, cracks, and impact points where the glass had been hit, but not totally given way because of the safety coating. The openings did, however, let wind pass through the restaurant. And it looks like some of the structural steel is missing, and the edges seem to be melted.
“I said leave me alone!” A voice calls out, and a gout of fire shoots across the room towards one of the emergency exits, melting the door slightly.
“It can talk?” Scootaloo says, then shakes her head, “Of course it talks, almost everything from Equestria can talk, according to Sunset.”
“It sounds like it’s scared,” Sweetie Belle says, poking her head out a little and crawling forward on her hands and knees, “And young.”
“We’re not gonna hurt you.” Apple Bloom calls out. “I know this place must be confusing, but we’re here to take you home.”
Lifting her head above a server’s trolley, the little dragon narrows her eyes. “What do you know about my home?”
Looking back at the girls, Sweetie Belle holds out her hand, “Gem, please.”
Scootaloo looks down, then hands her the stick. “Careful.” She says softly to her friend.
Sweetie Belle sits down, putting her hand on the stone, then shakes her mane and tail out. “I’m Sweetie Belle, I know about the portal to Equestria, about the ponies.”
“You’re just a little filly.” The dragon says, “Why would you know?”
“A unicorn, Sunset Shimmer, taught me all about it, or at least some of the stuff about it.” Sweetie Belle says, “But I was born on Earth, this world.”
The dragon looks at her, and then looks down, “I’m… I’m Princess Flicker Flame, the youngest of my dad’s family.” The dragon says, “What about your friends? Are they safe?”
Looking at Scootaloo, Apple Bloom nods and crouches down beside the little unicorn and touches the gem, “I’m Apple Bloom. Mah sisters Apple Jack.”
She kneels down and reaches out, Scoots finds it hard to get a touch on the gem with two other ponies touching it, but she manages it. “Scootaloo.”
“You’re all just foals?” The dragon sighs softly, “I’m just a baby dragon, too.” Looking at the doors again the dragon shakes her head, “My dad and sis told me I could hold and play with the Dragonfire Scepter while I was waiting, but then the grownup ponies started trying to take it from me.”
“Yeah, grownups don’t often listen to us either,” Scootaloo says softly.
“That stone, it’s… its part of the scepter, it must have broken off when I came here.” The dragon says.
Sweetie Belle leans down and bites the gem to pick it up, then she slowly walks over to the dragon, trying to get used to the feel of crawling, or walking, on all four legs. Once she is closer, Sweetie Belle notices several partial circles and strips of gold laying behind the cart with the dragon. Gently she puts it down in front of the baby dragon and shifts to human as she lets go of the gem, then she backs up and sits down. A moment later, the other girls come forward and sit down on either side of her.
“It’s got a lot of Equestrian magic in it, but it belongs to you.” Sweetie Belle says softly, gesturing to the gem.
Apple Bloom nods, “It’s yours, take it.”
Picking up one of the gold circles, Scootaloo looks at it curiously.
“But its broken.” The baby dragon puts the gem against the bottom of the scepter then lets it go, the gem falls to the floor.
“It needs some duct tape to hold it.” Apple Bloom says.
“Or glue.” Sweetie Belle says.
“But we don’t have either,” Apple Bloom murmurs.
“Is this real gold?” Scootaloo asks, looking at the dragon.
“I… I guess, I got hungry.” The dragon says, looking down and blushes a little.
Collecting a few pieces of the gold, Scootaloo drops them on the hooks at the bottom of the crystal. “Just breath some fire on that, then stick the gem against them, it should stick.”
Looking at Scootaloo for a moment, the dragon breaths fire in a small gout against the gold, melting it slightly. Once done, she wedges the gem back into place and looks at it as the gold sets, forming a tight friction bond. Giving it a little shake the dragon smiles, “It worked!”
“And Cheerilee said you never learn things on TV.” Scootaloo says with a laugh before acking as she is hugged by the dragon, her form shrinking down to pony again. Blinking she shrugs and buzzes her wings, hugging the dragon back, “Friends now?”
Letting go, the dragon backs up and nods, “Yeah, you’re a lot nicer than the other ones.”
“The other…” Apple Bloom starts before the partly melted fire door on the far side is blown off its hinges.
Turning quickly the three girls watch a pair of older men walk in. Both seemed to be in their thirties or forties, and both wear suits and ties, as well as dark fedora style hats. Most notably, both wear long trench coats down to their knees, and while they are open at the front, they still move with them as they walk.
“Why are there children here? Everyone should be unconscious.” One man says.
The second man reaches into his trench coat, “There shouldn’t be, blasted no-mags. Stupefy!”
A blast of light shoots out from an object one of the two are holding and flies across the room towards the children. In a moment, however, the dragon is in front of the girls, holding the sceptre in front of her. As the blast hits the scepter, a loud thunderclap can be heard, as the energy bounces back in a wave, blowing over tables, shattering part of the wall, and knocking the two men back into the stairwell.
In the next moment, the fire extinguishers starts raining water down as the concussive force breaks all the caps, as well as destroying all the windows on one side of the building. Above, part of the ceiling gives way, crashing down.
In the chaos, the girls scoop up the dragon and run for the stair well they had used to ascend.
“Who were those guys?” Sweetie Belle asks as she takes the stairs three at a time going down.
“No idea, maybe something banished from Equestria? Like the Sirens?” Apple Bloom says, running down, keeping the dragon curled up against her chest and making sure not to touch the staff.
Scootaloo buzzes her wings as she takes the lead, almost jumping from landing to landing, only stopping long enough to check the door to make sure they aren’t being followed. “Or other humans tracking magic? Like Twilight was? I don’t know, but we have to get her back to Equestria.”
“Who ever they are, they are dangerous.” Sweetie Belle said. “Are you okay, Flicker?”
“A…a….I… Think…. So….” The little dragon responds as she is bounced in Apple Bloom’s arms.
Busting through the door Scootaloo skids to a stop. “Umm girls, we have a problem.”
Apple Bloom stops beside Scootaloo, “The men?”
Shaking her head, Scootaloo points out the doors.
“The car!” Sweetie Belle says with a squeak as she looks at the Morgan, partly crushed under debris from the building, a large support beam going right through the hood.
“Ouch. That’s not going to buff out.” Scootaloo says and starts looking around, before running into the toy store, “I’ll be right back.”
Apple Bloom puts her hand on Sweetie Belle’s shoulder, “Maybe it’s not as bad as it looks, sides, sis says there’s not much a little sweat, nails, glue, and duct tape can’t fix.”
“Maybe you’re right,” Sweetie Belle says, “If we can get it back, maybe a little paint…”
A moment later the car is engulfed in flames, leaking fuel ignited by the damaged electrical system causes a small fireball under the engine before it settles into an even burn. Dark smoke rising from the wreck.
“A little glue, a little….” Sweetie Belle says, squeaking higher than usual. Standing in total shock, Sweetie Belle watches as the car burns.
A buzzing motor sound catches Apple Bloom’s attention as she glances over and watches Scootaloo zip out of the store riding on a black scooter with heavy off road tires, wearing a helmet and elbow pads. Tied to the back of the scooter is a semi-covered red wagon, made of wood and steel. The wagon also has heavy duty wheels on it, looking like it was made to be part kids toy, part garden tool.
Skidding sideways a bit, Scootaloo stops in front of the girls, “Hop in the wagon!”
“Both of us won’t fit, with the dragon.” Apple Bloom says, shaking her head.
“You will if you are pony sized, just touch and keep a hold of the gem on the scepter.” Scootaloo says, looking across at the other fire escapes. “They could be coming any moment.”
The girls nod to each other, getting into the wagon. Their smaller pony size making lots of room in the wagon for the baby dragon. Buzzing her wings, Scootaloo shoots out of the tower like a bullet. Weaving and dodging bodies on the street she laughs, “Maybe not being able to fly isn’t so bad, if I can get speed like this on a scooter.”
It feels like it takes less then half an hour for the girls to reach the school. Pulling up by the statue Scootaloo falls backwards onto the grass panting, “Phew…new record!”
Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom both stick their heads out of the wagon, looking around before looking up and gulping.
Walking down the steps of the school, Luna smiles and kneels down, “Well hello there my little ponies.”
“Umm, Principle Luna, we can explain!” Apple Bloom says quickly before covering her muzzle with a hoof.
Scootaloo sits up quickly, “Principle Luna…”
Shaking her head slowly, Luna kneels down, “Flicker Flame, accept my apologizes, my sister and the guards didn’t know you were entrusted to protect the item during the talks.”
Apple Bloom lets out an eek and climbs out of the wagon, changing to human before bowing deeply to Luna. Sweetie Belle blinks and follows suit.
“Ah’m sorry Princess, I didn’t know it was you.”
“It’s okay Apple Bloom, it’s quite understandable.” Luna says with a small smile.
“You know her name?” Scootaloo says in shock.
“I know all your names, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle. I know three very special and brave fillies back home, that share your names. And bringing back Princess Flicker Flame is something they would do too.” Luna says then she looks down at the dragon, “Are you ready to come home?”
“Y…yes ma’am,” The dragon says before being picked up by Luna.
“Equestria is in your debt girls.” Luna says softly before turning and walking through the portal.
The moment she leaves, all three girls’ ears vanish, as the magic returns with her. Sighing, Scootaloo looks up at the sky. “Well there go my wings. Man, its too bad we didn’t get any of that on film, we’d have made or mark for sure.”
Flopping on her back beside Scootaloo, Apple Bloom looks up at the sky too, "You know, as much trouble as we get into trying to figure out how to become famous, how to make our mark on the internet. It seems like the most enjoyable, most memorable times are, when we help other find their way."
Sweetie Belle sits down cross legged and looks at the portal, "Yeah, maybe its okay if we never make our own mark, because the lives we touch, the people we help, can then help others."
Scootaloo sighs and sits up, "Being unknown isn't so bad I guess, because we know each other, and our friendship is all that really matters."
Sweetie Belle smiles, "Crusaders forever?”
All the girls hug tightly in the fading light of day before a glow of light illuminates them. Blinking, the three girls cover their eyes for a moment before seeing the car approaching with its high beams on. With a sigh, Scootaloo shakes her head, “It would still be kinda nice and fun to have a million followers though.”
As the car pulls up Apple Bloom laughs, "I know, right? we can try something else tomorrow, for now, we can relax, unwind, and be happy that we saved Equestria and Earth."
Scootaloo nodds, "And just think, no one got hurt."
Rolling down the window, Sweetie Belle’s mom leans out, "Sweetie Belle, where's your father’s car? It’s not in the garage."
Gulping Sweetie Belle looks at her friends, then at the portal, then she whimpers, "Yet."